In European Patent Application No. 0169644 there is described a vehicle door latch system comprising a latch mechanism mounted on a vehicle door and having a release lever operable to release the latch mechanism, and a locking lever having a locked position in which release of the latch mechanism is prevented and an unlocked position in which release of the latch mechanism is enabled: and a handle mounted on the door remote from the latch mechanism and manually operable for releasing, locking and unlocking the latch mechanism, the handle being connected to the latch mechanism by a single push/pull control cable.
In the particular arrangements shown in the drawings of said application, the portion of the cable connected to the latch mechanism is arranged vertically so as to pass through the locking lever for connection to the release lever. However, the portion of the cable connected to the inside door handle extends horizontally, across the door. It is accordingly necessary, at some position within the interior of the door, to bend the cable through approximately 90.degree..
With the small packaging space available within a vehicle side door, the required bending of the cable may be difficult to achieve. High operating loads may accordingly be required to effect latch locking or release. Functioning of the latch system may thus be somewhat uncertain and, in extreme cases, the available packaging space may be insufficient to accommodate the cable.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a door latch system which enables the problems referred to above to be overcome.